The senate on Thursday debated the government’s request to borrow us 20 million dollars to finance the nation’s response to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. The sitting marked the return of independent senators Adrian Augier and Mauricia Thomas Francis, who had missed the previous senate sessions, due to personal reasons. At the heart of the deliberations is growing concern over Saint Lucia’s weakening fiscal position, economic inequality and turning the tide in the face of the unprecedented public health threat.